Last week, Cohere submitted detailed comments to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in response to their request for input on the development of a National AI Action Plan. In our submission, we outlined practical, innovation-friendly recommendations grounded in our extensive experience with deploying secure, scalable AI systems.

Our vision: Practical AI leadership

At Cohere, we believe that winning the AI race isn't about building the largest models or achieving theoretical milestones. Our approach focuses on what we call "AI 2.0" – transforming business and government processes with intuitive, secure, and sector-specific AI solutions that solve real-world problems.

As our CEO and Co-Founder Aidan Gomez underscored in a recent open letter, the latest AI advancements demonstrate that breakthroughs no longer solely depend on raw computational power. Instead, innovative training techniques, better quality data, and targeted solutions have driven major improvements.

To ensure the adoption and customization that businesses and the U.S. technology ecosystem seek, we must preserve the ability to build technologies that are fit for purpose. For example, focusing solely on model size ignores the reality that adoption needs to extend beyond growing superclusters. Individual businesses and government departments will require solutions that are both cloud, chip, and scale-agnostic. This efficiency has been a major focus for Cohere. In fact, our latest, state-of-the-art model release, Command A, is able to run on just two GPUs while beating leading models that require 32 or more GPUs in performance on enterprise tasks.

U.S. adversaries have also targeted efficiency improvements as they recognize that the distributive impact of AI will only occur if models are capable of being integrated into workflows regardless of context or compute power. Rather than fixating on hypothetical threats of generalized intelligence or superintelligence, Cohere urges policymakers to focus on real-world opportunities and risks related to AI, which can revolutionize productivity, improve services, and generate immediate value.

Cohere’s recommendations for American AI

An effective AI Action Plan should emphasize AI adoption at its core. In our response to the OSTP’s request for input, we emphasized the importance of promoting policies that:

Accelerate adoption of AI across government and the private sector to boost national security and economic growth.
- Set clear goals and funding for government AI adoption and modernization.
- Promote embedded AI systems in federal operations with appropriate safeguards
- Clarify existing laws that block private sector adoption.
- Create common definitions that enable public-private collaboration, and avoid a morass of conflicting state laws.
- Support policies that allow lawful AI training and innovation.
Modernize and simplify government procurement to enable rapid integration of cutting-edge AI solutions from innovative startups.
- Streamline procurement cycles and simplifying requirements.
- Adopt interoperability standards to prevent vendor lock-in.
- Expand flexible procurement approaches, such as regulatory sandboxes and Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs), to allow agile integration of innovative technologies.
Emphasize regulatory flexibility and focus on addressing practical risks rather than speculative hazards. A risk-based, sector-specific approach allows businesses and government agencies to customize AI systems to their unique operational needs while ensuring proper oversight..
- Rigid regulations or overly broad mandates threaten to hinder innovation, especially from small businesses. Instead, a sectoral approach aligned with existing industry practices and focusing on concrete risks will ensure that American businesses can effectively integrate AI.
Invest in AI infrastructure, including increased access to public data, compute resources, and talent initiatives.
- Accelerate public data sharing and access to computational resources.
- Incentivize private investment in critical AI infrastructure.
- Foster workforce development initiatives to prepare a robust, AI-ready workforce.

The path forward

Our recommendations outline clear, actionable steps that balance innovation and risk management, ensuring that America maintains its competitive edge.

As one of the fastest-growing independent AI companies, Cohere stands ready to collaborate with policymakers and government agencies to implement this vision. By focusing on practical, value-driven AI solutions and enabling widespread adoption, we can ensure that AI drives prosperity and security for all Americans. To learn more, read the full submission.

Melika Carroll